Foster, Hoff Power NT To Day One Sweep Of Marshall

#MGSB Got Clutch Hitting Late To Beat Marshall Twice

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – The North Texas bats came alive late in game one against Marshall as the Mean Green surged past the Thundering Herd, 7-3, behind five seventh-inning runs before blowing a five-run lead late in game two only to come back and win in the final inning.

Senior Brooke Foster led the Mean Green offensively with five total hits in the doubleheader, including a home run and a double, and junior Dani Hoff hit a home run and a two-RBI single off the top of the wall that completed the North Texas comeback late in game two.

“We had great fight today,” head coach Tracey Kee said. “It is a good time to be turning this ship around after a couple of rough spots. Going into the end of our season, we are in a perfect spot to make sure we reach the goals we set at the beginning of the season as far as the conference tournament is concerned.”

In game one, the Mean Green and Marshall were tied following the initial Brooke Foster homer until junior Dani Hoff broke the tie in the top of the fourth with a solo shot of her own.

With a 2-1 lead heading into the seventh, North Texas’ offense exploded, going around the horn with four hits and scoring five runs to put Marshall away.

The hot bats carried over into game two for the Mean Green as Foster set the tone with a lead-off double. She would eventually be scored by a Hoff single, and the Mean Green took a lead it would maintain until a damaging bottom of the sixth that saw the Thundering Herd score six to take a one-run lead heading into the seventh inning.

But the Mean Green struck back late, culminating in a bases-loaded single off of the right-field wall by Hoff that scored the tying and go-ahead runs.

“I went up there with the mentality that whatever she threw I was going to swing at it and put it in play somewhere to score Jen," Hoff said. "We wanted to pull out the win for Karl more than anyone else because of her injury, and we wanted to sweep the day.”

With the win, North Texas sits in sole possession of the two seed in the Conference USA tournament.

Foster hit her 13th home run on the year, which tied her for third on the single-season home runs list and her five base hits put her into sole possession of third on the all-time hits list for North Texas.

“This means a lot,” Foster said. “I do what I can to help my team, and I’ve worked really hard to put myself into a position to be successful and contribute to this team.”

Sophomore starting catcher Bryana Wade threw out her 18th runner trying to steal in game one, which tied her for second on the single-season runners caught stealing list.

Senior RHP Ashley Kirk started game one and closed out game two to record two wins on the day. She now has 18 wins on the season. Kristina Fowler holds the single-season record of 19 wins.

North Texas concludes its stay in West Virginia on Sunday, April 13, at 10 a.m. CST against Marshall.